Constringere
by Ziven
Summary: [AR] Pain, affection, satisfaction, despair... what of those who feel it in both the future and the past? -imminent Xenoshipping, Rishid x Isis-


**Constringere**

A passing glance, a smile; there was very little more that Ishizu could do to relieve herself. She had seen her own fate. _Rishid_. Marik. And so, she must—she had no choice but to lock herself away until those things came to pass. She did not share her visions except to the person that it primarily concerned. It was law. Most of those visions had concerned her feelings, her perspective.

And so she was alone.

Her heart beat more quickly whenever he passed and sometimes she couldn't stand it, and had to vacate from his presence. She cared for him too much already; wanted to pry him from Marik's clutches already. Excepting moments of grief about his parents, Marik was currently harmless as a kitten—simply bitter. But the fruits of his brooding would ripen with plans and obsession with the Pharaoh.

The Pharaoh, whom Ishizu had sworn to protect as a child and again when she had come of age. She could and would not abandon him. She had never met the man but was bound to him, fealty given. She spent her days guarding his belongings, wondering how he had lived, what he would think of her. She tried to harden her heart for the moment that she knew was approaching.

She would have to refuse her brother and turn him away. But Marik was such a loving brother, if not silent.

In the upcoming months she would experience much of the pain from her visions all over again, and that was the trial that truly needed preparation. Her own brother would, at one point, threaten to kill her. Her heart was torn between the love she knew would fill her spirit and the despair she would feel for her brother. She would ache from both. She could reveal neither.

She spent her days sometimes enclosed in her room, pondering on the portions of the future that the Gods had not seen fit to show her. She could call upon them to show her a sliver, a hint, a sign, but that power was not to be used for such trivial occasions as self-reflection. They were for dire times, when she herself was unsure of the dividing line between right and wrong—

There was a knock on her door and she started, the swirl of emotions that were slowly consuming her traveling from her head to settle back within her heart. "Yes?" she asked, trying to sound more cheerful than she felt.

"May I enter?" It was Rishid. Knowing what that sweet voice would tell her in the future, Ishizu felt her icy block of thoughts and inner-dialogue beginning to melt away. She cleared her throat to rid herself of the sigh that almost escaped.

"Yes, you may," she said, turning to her desk, busying herself with a text resting on its surface.

"I've prepared a treat for you and Marik," he said with a smile as he stepped in. "I prepared quite a feast for tonight's dinner. I would be delighted if you joined me." He was holding his hands behind his back—the pose of a servant.

She was unsure of what to make of this, of how to react. "I see," Ishizu answered. She could not meet his gaze; she could already feel his strong hands on her shoulders. She rolled them, knowing that they were not there. "I shall join you shortly." A warmth rushed through her. It was too much, and how she would feel in the future was bleeding into her current feelings. How would she explain herself to Rishid?

The words she wanted to say tightened around her throat.

* * *

Edited 9/24/11.

Alrighty. This is sort a follow up to "Script", a drabble written for the YGO drabble community on Livejournal. I really liked how this came out, so I decided to post it here-I also needed something to do at work. XD "Constringere" is the infinitive verb in Latin for "To draw together". I used this particularly because the theme for the drabble challenge last week was "Binding".

In any case, there's not much more to add here other than what had already been said in Script (which had a pretty long author's note); I just wanted to work out the dialogue that had been going on in my head-the scene outside of the entries in Isis's Journal that didn't make it into the story. Enjoy ^_^


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